


You're no stranger to 3AM

by Lilly_C



Series: Inking It Out [75]
Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Related, F/M, Hopeful Ending, On-Again/Off-Again Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-17 21:47:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14198355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilly_C/pseuds/Lilly_C
Summary: Over the last few weeks they’d gone from been co-workers to friends to lovers although the word lover seemed to kick him harder and harder in the stomach every time he thought about it now.





	You're no stranger to 3AM

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sholio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sholio/gifts).



> Takes place between SNAFU and Valediction with references to The Iron Ceiling and A Sin To Err. Flashback sequence is denoted with ***. The title is from I’ll Change Your Mind by Kate Miller-Heidke. Thanks to Tamara for doing beta for me.

In the hours following Peggy’s arrest and interrogation Jack had wasted more time attempting to get his head around the deception of the treason and her involvement in Krezminski’s death than he would care admit to. The one thing he unintentionally kept coming back to was the way she’d apologised to him in the alley half a heartbeat before punching him – it was one of those things that he would need another perspective to help him make sense of her actions.

Jack purposely took longer to unfasten Peggy’s handcuffs than the task actually required as he gently rubbed her wrists where the metal bracelets had left marks, an action that took his thoughts back to the night at his favourite bar where the bourbon was topped up without asking and their conversations throughout the evening went beyond the unspoken rule of work only topics.

***It was only when they were standing outside his apartment that he realised he wanted to hear and see more of this side of Peggy.

“Would you like a nightcap Marge?” he asked using the nickname that often gained him a less than polite response from her.

Glancing at her watch Peggy said, “Might as well, I’ve missed my curfew.”

“You have a curfew?” Jack commented, slightly surprised that she’d live somewhere with such an old fashioned restriction.

“Unfortunately.” Peggy smirked, “Mrs Fry is a stickler for punctuality and I have a penchant for breaking rules.”

Having finally dealt with the lock, Jack chuckled at her response stepping aside to let her enter the property first, Jack said, “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” heading in the direction of what Peggy guessed was his bedroom. “The glasses are in the kitchen,” he called out while shedding his tie and Jacket.

Peggy quickly found the glasses and an almost empty decanter of bourbon, filling the glasses to the top. “You have an interesting selection of whisky,” she commented taking in the array of still boxed Old Pulteney, Talisker, Glenfiddich and other Scottish malts. When he didn’t answer she placed the decanter on the counter then toed her shoes off before taking what looked to be Jack’s preferred spot on the couch given that the grooves were deeper than on the other cushions. 

Jack returned to the room a few minutes later looking dishevelled but more relaxed than she’d ever seen him. Collecting his glass he clinked it against hers and toasted, “To a job well done.” Peggy had a feeling that he was referring to their conversations on the plane home from Russia and not their current investigations but accepted it anyway.

“Anytime,” she said before leaning against him silent for a few moments taking in the unexpected sense of peace that been here was giving her. 

They sipped their drinks in a companionable silence. “Jack,” she whispered fearful that the next words to come out of her mouth would send him running in the opposite direction. “Have you ever thought about it, about us I mean?”

It was an odd question and one that had Jack carefully considered more times than he’d admit to out loud although he realised he could pretend to also have a drunken curiosity and think nothing more of it.

“Sometimes I do,” he started to give her the only answer that made sense to him in that moment. “but for there to be an _us_ Marge we’d have to be more than colleagues,” pausing for a second he added, “more than friends and I don’t know if anything would actually happen.”

“Hmm. That makes sense, I don’t know why I asked but I just think that’s...” she suddenly stopped causing Jack to glance down seeing that she’d fallen asleep before finishing her sentence.

He left the remnants of his drink, and rather than waking her he picked her up carrying to his room because he knew from his own experience that the effects of a night on the sofa would be fatal for anyone who even so much as blinked in her direction.

He carefully put her to bed before he could leave she reached for his hand. “Stay,” she sleepily requested, Jack eagerly accepted the request getting in beside her quicker than he’d expected before succumbing to his own slumber. They could deal with any repercussions of this arrangement in the morning.***

~

“Rough day?” the bartender asked as Jack who occupied a stool at the far end of the bar where the lights were dim enough to keep him from receiving unwanted attention. He kept mumbling “shit,” over and again to anyone and no one while reading over his notes from the last few weeks. When the bartender didn’t get an answer he topped up his drink and went about making a phone call while seeing to the other patrons and keeping an eye on his distraught regular.

Jack took in the array of empty glasses in front of him and knew that he could and should stop but he signed for another top up anyway before briefly closing his notebook. Once he had his drink, he returned to the last page attempting to review everything he thought he knew to form a coherent timeline yet he kept on coming back to the two things that had him chasing the answers at the bottom of a bottle. _Peggy Carter. Killer. Traitor to America._ why did you do it Marge?.

Over the last few weeks they’d gone from been co-workers to friends to lovers although the word lover seemed to kick him harder and harder in the stomach every time he thought about it now. She wasn’t a traitor or a killer, he knew those things to be true however the evidence they had against her at the time was too overwhelming to ignore and although he did want to believe her he sided with Chief Dooley anyway.

Hearing the door open the bartender breathed a sigh of relief, signalling Peggy to where Jack was moping at the end of the bar in near darkness. She quietly took the empty stool waiting for him to acknowledge her. “It’s been a rough day,” he slurred. Her heart broke a little at seeing him in this state, sure she’d seen him drunk and at times had also been drunk with him but using drink as coping mechanism stung a little more than she wanted it to. 

“Yes, it has Jack,” she easily agreed with his statement because she had somehow become an impromptu counsellor for grief stricken agents even though she was also struggling to keep herself from falling apart on a moments notice. “This,” pointing to the empty glasses “isn’t going to bring the chief's killer to justice.”

Despite being in a drunken stupor he knew that she was right and also knew that he’d need to keep her at a safe distance until he felt that he could trust her again. “I can’t do this right now Marge.”

Even when he was drunk he could still be irritatingly logical and Peggy knew that he was being vague on purpose she decided to push him a little. “Can’t do what right now? Grieve? Work? Be seen with me?” the last one had slipped out accidentally forcing him to finally look up from drawing patterns in the spillages along the bar.

“The first two,” he took a calming breath before continuing, “All I've done since Okinawa is grieve and work, it’s all I seem to have,” Jack said while trying to hold back unshed tears. “As for been seen with you Marge, I honestly believed that you really were a traitor and a killer. Do you know that I have no idea where we are now or if there ever was anything between us,” taking another pause he added, “Was it real? Were you using me?”

Biting back a frustrated sigh she said, “I know you believed that I was capable of those crimes Jack, the evidence against me was so convincing that I would have believed it if I wasn’t the one been accused of them.” She took a large swallow of his forgotten about drink before speaking again, she added, “As for us I think that we’re on a break for the time being. Using you? Do you have any idea how pathetic that sounds?” pausing for a beat she finished, “actually Jack what we have is real but too much has happened and I'd rather start over when we’re not pissed off at each other.”

Merely nodding at her answer, Jack stood on shaky legs taking a few seconds before trying and somehow succeeding to walk towards the door, peggy turned giving the bartender a grateful smile. Once they were on the street Peggy put an arm around him to stop him from falling over as they walked slowly to his apartment where she put him to bed, placing a glass of water on the bedside table and leaving the key on the entrance table on her way out.

~

Having placed a strip of gaffer tape over Fenhoff’s mouth, Jack secured him in the back of the car by handcuffing him to the door handle. He and Peggy took their suspect back to the SSR while Daniel stayed at the scene to assist with gathering evidence.

“Quite a night,” Jack idly commented, keeping an eye on the deserted roads that thankfully made the drive back to the city pass quickly. He just wanted to get out of the car and away from the man who killed his mentor.

“Hmm it has but it’s not over yet. We still have to get a prison to agree to our terms and I'm not even sure a metal mask is going to be considered a humane request.”

Jack scoffed at her. “Humane? Marge, he turned the chief into mincemeat.”

Peggy flinched at the analogy. “I was there too Jack, I just… I don’t know I just want to get him off the streets and out of sight.”

A congregation of agents greeted them on their arrival, two agents took the suspect to the cells with strict instructions to keep the tape on his mouth while Peggy went upstairs to make use of the phone in the office.

Jack stood in the bullpen smirking as he heard Peggy’s brash conversation. “Yes I understand that but this man is extremely dangerous and it is imperative that he not be able to speak.” A few moments later she slammed the receiver down, “Bloody bureaucrats!” she complained.

Jack initially came into the room wanting nothing more than to hold her until she calmed down, instead he feigned curiosity in wanting to find out what was going to happen. “What did they say?”

Peggy sighed, gently touching his arm to ground herself before she answered. “They’re going to take him to Riker’s tonight and the warden has assured me that they will keep him in solitary confinement and also place a mask on him.”

he quietly said “that’s good” drawing her into a hug that she wasn’t resisting he held her until someone knocked on the door causing Peggy to pull away too quickly for Jack’s liking. 

With the case now wrapped up and Chief Dooley’s killer behind bars, several people were gathered around a desk raising a glass to the Chief from his secret stash, enthralled at Jack’s exaggerated version of Peggy's negotiating skills for getting the prison to agree to place Johann Fenhoff in solitary confinement and to keep the mask on had been easier said than done but with some well timed threats Peggy had managed to make sure that both requirements were met.

A few hours after everyone else had left Peggy and Jack were still there talking about all and sundry like they used to do before they’d split up. “Marge,” Jack started, “You’re homeless, what are you going to do?”

“I can see if I can stay at Howard’s, he owes me a favour and he should have a spare bed in one of his houses.”

Trying not to be disappointed by her answer he gave her another option. “Stay at my place,” he offered placing a key in front of her. “I had it cut for you when we first started this whatever it is that we are and never had a chance to give it to you.”

Peggy ran a finger across the silver Yale key. “Does this mean?” she asked trying not to get her hopes up given how quickly and easily those same hopes had been dashed time and again since she and Jack had started their relationship.

Jack chuckled at her sudden bout of indecisiveness. “Yes Marge it means that I'd like us to try again. If you wa...” Peggy stopped him from finishing his sentence with a tender kiss.

Briefly pulling back, she said, “I think we’ve wasted enough time already.”


End file.
